Come with me to a land faraway in the future, or maybe it’s in the past.

Come with me to “Fall River As It Might Be.”

Fall River As It Might Be is an excellent place to locate a casino and I’ll tell you why.

First of all, the creation of a successful arts overlay district has packed the downtown area with art studios and quaint little galleries. Casino visitors may not be known for their love of painting and sculpture but, with the vibrant arts district just a short, free trolley ride from the casino, Fall River’s large resident artist community is expecting quite the boom after the casino opens.

Thank God the city had the foresight to establish artists’ residences in both the old police station and the former Durfee Tech building.

And, of course, the retail and dining complex on the State Pier packs ‘em in too.

It may have sounded like a dream at the time but former Mayor Robert Correia’s plan to block off parts of the downtown on weekends is expected to be a major draw for people who come to stay in the new luxury hotel in the city’s South End.

And it’s not just that the streets are blocked off. Back when the City Council started encouraging food trucks and carts to come downtown, no one knew that hordes of casino visitors would soon be gobbling falafel, tacos and chourico sandwiches on every corner.

But the administration’s vision didn’t end there, oh no.

The “daylighting” of the Quequechan created a lovely series of waterfalls. Laughing waters have replaced the Chamber of Commerce.

That never would have happened if the Flanagan administration hadn’t seamlessly taken up the daylighting effort after Correia left office.

Unlike other small cities in Massachusetts, Fall River has always been able to carry forward a plan from one administration to another. It’s the city’s greatest strength.

But it wouldn’t be possible to draw casino patrons into the city if the city didn’t have a central narrative, a story to tell.

In Fall River, the story has always been Lizzie Borden.

Thanks to the wisdom of city councilors back in the 1960s, the city bought both the house where Lizzie may have killed her parents and Maplecroft, the house where she lived after the deed was done.

A trust, funded by grants and donations, maintains both homes, which memorialize not just the murder, but the era in which it occurred.

Visitors to the houses often choose to visit Fall River’s textile museum, where visitors can not only learn about the cotton mill era but can see a perfectly preserved portion of a 1950s sewing shop. Guides provide insight into the experience of immigrants and women in the workforce.

Page 2 of 2 - Back when the city started doing these things, no one had even considered a casino. Fall River did these things out of a faith in the city’s worth and Fall River did these things because forward-looking leadership did more than just talk about the city’s “potential.”

Most importantly, these efforts continued across decades, the work passing from one mayor to the next, city councilors working together.

It’s a good thing they did, too.

Imagine what might have happened if no concrete efforts had been made to promote tourism or the arts, if the river had never been daylighted, if the idea of artists’ residences in old buildings had turned out to be just another cheap election year fantasy.

If that had happened, you’d have empty storefronts on Main Street and derelict old buildings all over the center city. People who went to a casino would have NO reason to explore the rest of the city.

And that’s how it coulda been if we had done what we coulda done, which is why it isn’t what it could be but it is what it is.